BRECKENRIDGE – A weaker U.S. dollar benefits Colorado tourism in two ways. Foreign visitors can spring for more expensive trips deeper into the country, And as it costs more to travel abroad, more Americans may chose to stay closer to home, possibly coming here. Because most foreign tourists enter the country through other points, tracking international visits to Colorado isn’t easy, said Jayne Buck, vice president of tourism for the Denver Metro Convention & Visitors Bureau.
The two measures that tourism officials can track – traffic on direct international flights into Denver and bookings from foreign tour companies and travel agents – are rising.
When Lufthansa added a direct Denver-to-Munich flight March 31, airline officials weren’t sure what kind of response they would get. “Flights from Munich have been soaring. They have been surprised at the load factor they have been able to sustain,” Buck said. Besides travel, another way the weaker dollar could pinch consumers is by making imported goods more expensive. A key reason filling up a tank of gas costs more is that more U.S. dollars are needed to buy a barrel of oil. International guests accounted for a record 8 percent of the record 12.56 million skier visits to the state last ski season, according Colorado Ski Country USA, a nonprofit trade organization.
An important currency for the Colorado economy is the Canadian dollar, which has reached parity with the U.S. dollar for the first time in 31 years.
Canada imports a wide variety of Colorado goods, including meat, computer products and medical devices. In return, the country sends back crude petroleum and other commodities.
Colorado, so far, hasn’t seen exports pop from the weaker U.S. dollar, said Jim Reis, president of the World Trade Center in Denver. Colorado exports through July are off 4.6 percent, while U.S. exports are up 10.5 percent. “Colorado, for whatever reason, is not seeing as much of a benefit,” Reis said.
One reason is that the state doesn’t produce as many semiconductors and computer-storage devices as it did in past years. Another is that after Canada and Mexico, the bulk of Colorado’s exports head to Asia, where currency gains against the U.S. dollar are more restrained, But foreign buyers are snapping up Colorado commodities Molybdenum exports are up 88 percent this year versus last, and raw hides and skins are up 66 percent, Reis said. Molson Coors is seeing a boost as it converts its Canadian cash flows, about 58 percent of its total, into a weaker U.S. dollar.
“Molson Coors, which reports earnings in U.S. dollars and has substantial operations in Canada, benefits overall from a rising Canadian dollar versus the U.S. dollar,” said spokeswoman Kabira Hatland.
That said, the company also holds about $2 billion in Canadian-dollar-denominated debt, which is now more expensive to repay.
